 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: Dragged Across Concrete • Year: 2018 • Country: Canada • Director: S. Craig Zahler • Main cast: Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Laurie Holden • Runtime: 139 minutes • Production company: Unified Pictures, Cinestate, Look to the Sky Films • TRAILER |
Although his career in the movies industry is still pretty short, S. Craig Zahler has achieved the reputation of one of those filmmakers that it is mandatory go watch anything he is involved in. His debut movie Bone Tomahawk (2015) was a blast that surprised everyone everywhere, and his second film Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017) [read our review here], which undoubtedly was one of the top 3 movies at the Sitges Film Festival last year, did nothing but to confirm all the suspicions were true delivering one of the most violent and epic titles of the season. And not yet having digested that previous work, today I found myself facing his latest film jewel, with a delicious title like Dragged Across Concrete (2018).
I must admit knowing his previous films the Dragged Across Concrete (2018) title, at least to me, feels a little bit of a trick. One would think the amount of violence and extreme situations would increase to an unbelievable level, especially with the addition of one of the biggest badasses in nowadays film industry to the regular team of performers in the S. Craig Zahler universe, that dude called Mel Gibson. But in exchange what we have here is the most calmed, intrigue developing and reflected of the 3 movies he has signed to date.
I think the script for Dragged Across Concrete (2018) is one of the best ones I’ve ever witnessed translated to the screen. The way the characters presented generate automatic empathy to the audience, no matter what they are planning on doing or what their background is. The social conflict is very present in this movie, becoming a huge racist anti-racism anthem. And believe me, it works. This movie is about a heist, also about two cops who went too far in authority abuse thinking they are above the rest just because they have a badge, but it is too about a series of people who never had the privilege to choose what kind of life they wanted to live. Crime is not a choice but a necessity. And the fact those people are becoming criminals, thieves or cop killers is only due to the circumstances those characters have been pushed through. No one can blame any of the acts committed by any of the pawns of this injustice game. Besides the very bad guys, of course, but who cares of them?
I mostly have words to praise how much of a great writer S. Craig Zahler is. How his characters are easily part of our fictional family, how he masters the tempo of a story, and how his films are full of plot twists and surprises. How everything feel like it could actually be happening in real life, right now. But it would be unfair to miss to comment how good of a director he is. How the camera shows exactly what is need to be shown at any moment, how he gets the best of a bunch of actors, some already renowned, some others instant promising stars, or how the edition makes this 2 hours and a half of film to feel like it’s a walk in the park due to its naturality. One never know what might happen next in his movies, the surprise is a common factor here.
Sharing sensations after the screening of Dragged Across Concrete (2018), opinions were pretty divided. Some people found it too slow, not everybody was euphoric, although the majority of us were fascinated by the movie. What all of the audience agreed is that, you like it or not, this movie is very very good, superior to the average, and this was very personal filmmaking. And yes, no reason to hide it, I was one a big fan of this huge piece of cinema making, and already a devote S. Craig Zahler inconditional. Today a little bit more than I was yestreday.
RATE: 8/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6491178
